By Marney Blom
An enormous quarry from the Second Temple Period 2000 years ago was recently exposed in the northern East Jerusalem suburb of Ramat Shlomo (translated Solomon’s heights).
Along with “… a spectacular sight of bedrock columns and steps and craters …. the result of [ancient] rock cuttings,” according to Irina Zilberbod, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), a 2000-year-old key, pick axes, and severance wedges were also uncovered in an area that will become the thoroughfare of Highway 21.
Rock hewn from the quarry was likely used in the construction of Jerusalem’s impressive first century AD public buildings. Some stones measured more than two meters long and weighed from tens to hundreds of tons.
The newly exposed quarries of Ramat Shlomo totalling 1,000 square meters in area along with the other quarries previously excavated by the IAA, may be the likely origin of the stone blocks King Herod used in the construction of the Temple Mount.
The excavators offer an explanation for the discovery of the ancient key at the quarry site. The large-toothed key may have dropped out of the pocket of a quarryman, and would have been used to open an ancient door some 2000 years ago.
The discovery of the quarry from which the foundation stones of Second Temple buildings originated, along with construction tools and an ancient key may not only shed light on Jerusalem’s glorious past, but may be a prophetic signpost of the restoration of a glorious Kingdom yet to come.
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